Centrix Software, a leading provider of workspace computing solutions, today announced it has joined forces with Atlantis Computing, the leader in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) storage and performance optimization solutions, to help organizations accurately size and reduce the cost of storage requirements for large-scale desktop virtualization deployments.

Many IT organizations are unaware that the major expense of VDI is not software or server hardware, but storage. As much as 80% of the cost of implementing a conventional VDI environment is for the storage infrastructure needed to support implementations that meet user expectations. Conventional SAN/NAS storage systems can only deliver the data throughput (IOPS) needed to support VDI by increasing the number of storage drives and controllers well beyond that needed to deliver the required disk space. As virtual desktop IO traffic is significantly more than physical desktops, storage can often be undersized for VDI installations leading to performance and budget issues, and projects stalling when these deployments move from pilot phase to production.

As part of this new alliance, Centrix Software and Atlantis Computing will work together to help organizations optimize the delivery of virtual desktops, providing solutions that ensure storage infrastructure costs are minimized and high performance levels are achieved when scaling VDI.

With Centrix WorkSpace iQ, an analytics solution for end-user computing environments, Centrix Software provides unprecedented and unique levels of visibility on IOPS activity and detailed analysis on the impact of user session concurrency on a virtual desktop infrastructure. The information it delivers enables accurate sizing of storage architecture based on platform usage and service consumption patterns as well as continuous analysis of the VDI environment.

Atlantis Computing enables organizations to scale their VDI without having to invest in unnecessary storage resources. Its Atlantis ILIO solution is designed specifically for VDI workloads and as a result, reduces the amount of traffic going to storage by up to 90 percent and decreases the storage capacity required by up to 99 percent. The impact is a dramatic reduction in the cost of the virtual desktop and a large boost in desktop performance.

“To gain the best performance and value from VDI, organizations have to be able to track the impact of service usage and consumption patterns on the supporting infrastructure. Greater visibility on IOPS is essential if storage is to be sized and managed correctly,” said Paul Burke, director of product management at Centrix Software. “By working closely with Atlantis Computing, we are pleased to be adding value to its pioneering work around storage optimization as we help organizations accelerate the delivery of successful virtual desktops projects.”

“Centrix WorkSpace iQ is unique in its ability to track IOPS loads at a granular level including boot sessions, providing valuable intelligence that can be used for defining the impact of VDI deployments on the storage architecture and identifying where optimization is needed to curtail costs,” said Bernard Harguindeguy, chief executive officer of Atlantis Computing. “Our alliance with Centrix Software builds on our quest to help organizations eliminate the storage challenge around VDI and benefit in faster time from their virtualization investments.”

Centrix Software and Atlantis Computing plan to announce the availability of reference materials and resources as part of the alliance partnership.